On Wednesday Republicans and Democrats in Congress rebuked Microsoft for participating in Chinese censorship. Bill Gates, company founder defends the decision, stating, "You've got to decide. Do you want to obey the laws of the countries you're in, or not?"

Chinese people show their appreciation for Google's decision to stand up to their government's censorship. (Source: Guardian UK)

Rep. Smith, R-N.J.:"They [Microsoft] need to get on the right side of human rights rather than enabling tyranny, which they're doing right now."

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D warned, "China
wants to participate in the marketplace of goods but keep the
marketplace of ideas outside their country. Only when China
respects human rights and allows the free flow of ideas ... only then
will they be treated as a full member of the international
community."

GoDaddy,
the popular domain registration service, also was praised by Rep.
Smith for pulling
out of China due to privacy violations. Microsoft,
however, received a rebuke from the Representative. He stated,
"They [Microsoft] need to get on the right side of human rights
rather than enabling tyranny, which they're doing right
now."

Microsoft insists it is merely following the local
law. A company statement read, "We appreciate that
different companies may make different decisions based on their own
experiences and views. At Microsoft we remain committed to
advancing free expression through active engagement in over 100
countries, even as we comply with the laws in every country in which
we operate."

The statement echoes the words of Microsoft
former CEO, co-founder, and renowned philanthropist Bill Gates, who
in January remarked,
"You've got to decide. Do you want to obey the laws of the
countries you're in, or not?"

China agrees. Its
China's State Council Information Office comments, "Foreign
companies need to abide by China's laws when they operate in China.
Google violated it's promise."

The issue is made
more complex by the fact that Google has in the past censored search
results in other countries, such as Thailand, Turkey, France [see
the Wikipedia
page on Google's past censorship for more info].
Google has made no suggestion that it will reject censorship in the
future. Nonetheless, its uncensoring of its Chinese search is
perhaps the highest profile example of defiance against online
censorship in terms of number of people affected.

Microsoft,
on the other hand, says it is opposed to Chinese censorship, but
continues to participate in it. It enjoys a wonderful
opportunity to capture more of China's close to 400 million internet
users with Google out of the picture

A new law may make it
more embarrassing for Microsoft to stay this course. The Global
Online Freedom Act, a bipartisan initiative pending in Congress,
would force U.S. firms to disclose what materials they are censoring
in foreign nations -- including China -- in effect airing search
firms' dirty laundry to the public.

Back in China, the
government imposed backlash against Google picked up in earnest with
China Unicom and other business officially giving the Google search
engine the boot. China Unicom, the nation's second largest
carrier, did not announce and immediate replacement. It has
been speculated that it may stop selling Android handsets or at least
stop releasing new models, however, those claims have yet to be
validated. It seems clear, however, that the Chinese government
is infuriated and Google will likely face more repercussions in
coming weeks.